HYPE IT UP: Gas Station Robber

Hyped By: Naimah Holmes


Mysterious... one of many words I'd use to decribe California's own Gas Station Robber. Even while corresponding online with the band over the course of a few days I had no idea with whom I was speaking. And that's the way Chris Holbrook and Craig Conard like it. Image isn't their biggest concern, but getting their music to you without a middle man is. With that in mind, GSR allow you to download their songs at their website, and will continue to do so as long as they're making music. Every month a new song is available for you to download and adore.

Their approach towards image, or lack thereof, isn't new. Others have gone the way of covering their faces for whatever reason, but their urgent lyrics and moving instrumentation set them apart. With GSR it's simple, they want all of the attention to be paid to their music. The result is that of a band whose intentions are clear, making music with relevence. Every aspect of what is done is looked at and taken care of with kid gloves for Holbrook and Conrad.

The haunting guitar effects of "Cigarette" will catch your attention against the calmness of a voice with urgent lyrics pleading for a release not a need for rescue: 'I'm locked inside like everyone I know/And still the outcome's the same/Don't stop me from walking out unfazed/Now stop me from walking out unfazed/ Don't stop me from walking out unfazed.'

"Please" is a simple message of self defeat: 'Wait all night to show the one/That I'll be alright with one less to fight/Stay or leave/I will waste I will waste away" and later "Please just leave me alone/Stained and I'm the frozen one/Now is the time for the one left to find/Turn a leaf.'

"Falling Off" finds it's tempo to be more upbeat with lyrics riddled with longing, desire, and temptation with lines like 'Tonight we're alike/A room, tonight my blood is wine/Stuck in a place where I will stay/Come back please and take me away/Afraid with you of coming down/Afraid of falling off.'

"Killed the Chase" offers the most lush arrangements. The music seems to ebb and flow around a strong voice in this cautionary tale of the search for love and meaning: 'We now belong to all the things left in the way/And I have been sucked right in and thrown away/Another day down the same road to grey/Another day cuts the face and floats away.'

The effect of GSR is soothing. Picture driving through the desert at night with the top down on some old beat up corvet, waving glow sticks while looking for shooting stars.

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